The (mostly) Tall One

namsirc @ 2006-10-06T02:10:00

2006-10-06T06:15:11Z

In kind for my promised art from blckdv

The first five people to respond to this post, will get some form of art, by me, about [or tailored to] them. I make no guarantees about quality or type, but I will assure that I will give it good effort and that the art will be individual to you, so if you get a mixed CD or some sort of painting doodle, yours is the only one like it.

The only catch, of course; as with most memes, if you sign up, you have to put this in your own journal as well.

Also, I make no promises about response time. I'll try to do them in a timely fashion, but I can't guarantee inspiration will strike immediately.

Long Day (Thursday)

2006-10-06T06:07:30Z

Thursday was fun, about 15 hours on the clock. Good news is that I do not have to worry about any of that over the weekend, down side is that I am salaried now, so no overtime. I did also get to see a very pleasant full moon, I love how the world looks by bright moonlight, everything muted and blue, very relaxing.

The past, blending with the now

2006-09-20T02:42:46Z

Stealing a good idea from lindseyseale:
If you read this, if your eyes are passing over this right now, even if we don't speak often, please post a comment with a memory of you and me. It can be anything you want, either good or bad, or possibly illegal.

When you're finished, post this little paragraph on your journal to see what people remember about you.

A fortnight plus five

2006-09-20T02:35:57Z

Dragon*Con was fun. I drove up with my sister and roomed with her friends from South Carolina, good people all bibliophiles, lots of good discussions. Spent a little money on games and dice, but kept it within a reasonable limit. I missed a lot of people at at the con, but I did get to have lunch with geekgirrl, it was nice to catch up a bit then I saw a few minutes of methuse when he got in from his flight and before they went off to get his badge. Many odd people to watch, a very nice vacation.

Work has been interesting. Lots to do, big deadline in the middle of October with many bits from all over campus coming together to make everything work in a happy cohesive way. As of last Friday I think all five big sections are not working and all the bits that connect them are very fuzzy and slightly broken, good stuff!

To begin with, I admit to being an obsessive packrat. I was picking up a spilled set of CDs today and the last two I picked up brought home how odd some of my music purchases have been. First we have Celine Dion's "Let's Talk About Love" which I can see having purchased at some point in the past (hey, she's cute), not something I would spend money on now, but OK (fun track title: "I Hate You Then I Love You" with Pavarotti). Then we have Yanni's "Live at the Acropolis", WHY? What was I thinking? I can not say one way or the other if there is any good music on it, I do not remember ever listening to it, but the man just oozes slimy such that I have no idea why I would have acquired this in the first place. May your music be better.

Gastrointestinally Hemorrhagic

2006-08-16T19:31:15Z

My brother is odd. In his defense he has been exposed to me for his entire life. The subject above came up as a spiff sounding phrase in one of our discussions this week, and ignoring the meaning it does have a nice ring to it.

Going through the papers I pulled out of my old office (at my previous job) I found this poem. While following suit with most of my poetry has no deep feelings attached it does evoke happy pictures for me. (created somewhere in the last 5 years, capitalization and punctuation are directly transcribed from my works notes, right above a MAC address and comments on a MAPI error in an email client) Happy gibberish from my brain to yours:

Burning Brightly Spinning Slowly
Screaming fire in the night
Creeping, dripping down the wall

My current plan for the evening involves board games, which makes me happy. I derive great joy from the social interaction around board or card games, lots of fun. Been a good day so far, hope it keeps up.

P.S. In regard to the subject, no, I do not currently know anyone with massive bleeding in the stomach or intestines.

The week in review, 2006 Aug 5

2006-08-13T03:02:06Z

Sadly, the unifying topic of my week was that my left knee hurts. Last Sunday it felt strained at full extension and slightly tender on the back. By Wednesday morning standing and walking were not fun. It's a bit better by today, but I have to consciously focus on my movement to not walk with a locked knee and to not land flat on my foot (rather than landing on my heal and the lowering myself down the the ball in a controlled fashion). It's not fun having to think that much about walking.

Had my hair cut today, which improved my outlook on life. Between cuts I constantly forget how annoying and distracting slightly too long hair is. It takes a good cut, and the lack of annoyance, to bring that home. I feel much better.

Also hit 1000 miles on my new car's odometer (the first 178 are not mine, but a nice milestone none the less). The rollover from 999 to 1000 is not nearly as satisfying with a digital display, oh well.

Overall a fairly simple week. Cutting back on WoW (none this week) and I need to get out more for social activities, working on that going forward. Also trying to slowly move myself off of soda, I have been having a bottle or cup at lunch most days which is way too much processed sugar and acids for a health diet. Yesterday I went and bought 24 cans and plan to move to other drink options when those are gone. Feel free to tell my the stupidity of my ways if you see me drinking a processed sugar drink.

Good weekend

2006-07-11T02:10:22Z

Had a nice weekend. Got to see my sister (Just midnight Thursday and Friday night, but most of the day Saturday). Also got to have fun with various people at the dinner by blckdv and hang with lots of people and reptiles at FIRE on Saturday.

On the drive from Tampa we stopped so that lucide13 could get a drink and I sat in the car and pushed buttons, I found the electronic compass setup screen which needed to be calibrated. During calibration it reads "Calibrating: Drive in circles" which just cracked me up. The big circles around the gas station did not work so when Lucide13 came out I tried small ones in the back corner of the lot, which worked better. Happy silly fun with the car.

Dark Silver Metallic

2006-07-06T02:47:11Z

New car is sitting out front right now. Woot!

Georgia Car

2006-07-03T17:33:31Z

No new car for me today, the one in Florida was not available. The new one (from Georgia) should be here on Wednesday. I did get a loaner that is the right shape, just wrong colors and one and a half trim levels down.

Double or nothing ... uh, well double anyway

2006-07-03T00:59:01Z

Here's too doubling my debt load!

Barring any vagaries in the interdealer transport of cars I should take ownership of a new Chevrolet Monte Carlo within the next 23 hours. It has a Dark Silver Metallic exterior with a Ebony Cloth interior (dark gray).

Monte Carlo?

2006-07-01T20:21:15Z

So after far too much time out in the sun and a lot of support for the theory that Japanese people are shorter than me we have a possibility. I can fit into a Chevrolet Monte Carlo. As far as I can tell my only other option is a full size truck/SUV which usually drops the gas mileage by a third and pushes the price up a bit. So far the two strikes against the Monte Carlo are the standard OnStar (which comes with its own ugly little roof antenna) and the pointless rear spoiler (ugh).

So, anyone have any comments (good or bad) on a Chevrolet Monte Carlo?

Two quarts of transmission fluid on the ground

2006-06-30T14:59:22Z

Here's my day so far. Get up, get ready, get in the car, stop a the light (between the Feed & Seed store and ABC Liquor, heh), not go from the light. After failing to get the transmission to engage for forward movement for one green light I figure out that reverse still works. So in rush hour traffic (only Gainesville, but still lots of cars) I get to back up half a block to pull into the feed store. Getting out of the car I can see a huge puddle of transmission fluid in the parking spot and a nice little trail back the the light. Then it takes over 15 minutes and three calls to get AAA to answer. So my trip to work (only 1.5 hours late) was fun.

I am taking this as direction from on high that this is the weekend to buy a new car. On the positive side I probably won't have to rent to make the trip to Orlando next week if I get a new car. So I get to go car shopping this weekend (long weekend at least, and maybe I can find a good sale at some dealer for the 4th). So, if anyone feels like chauffeuring me around any time this weekend (Sat-Tues) and getting a laugh watching me try to fit into a few score cars give me a call.

Silly knowledge

2006-06-17T22:23:43Z

Facts you may not know, learned while waiting for my Basic Driver Improvement Course to finish:

Lack of a windshield (or maybe it's wipers) may cause your engine to explode and your whole car to be consumed in flames in less than one second. (The picture was right next to the windshield section, so it must be true).

Using nail polish remover without a SCBA, or just breathing normal air, and pushing your bicycle up your driveway is DUI offense. FL 316.193(1)(a) is how to get a DUI, FL 877.111(1) lists some of the chemicals to use for your DUI, acetone (nail polish remover) and nitrous oxide (exists in normal air) are included. Pushing your bicycle is being "in actual physical control of a vehicle".

I'm an idiot

2006-06-17T02:51:53Z

Given: I am an idiot.

Proof:

I got a $120 ticket tonight when I forget to turn on my headlights.

I was unable to get the gas pump to feed my car, I gave up as it required far to much energy to go to another pump.

I really hate getting a ticket. I now have two options. I can either pay the $120 and get some points on my license (i.e. let Florida decide if they want to bring down doom upon my life when the feel like it) or I can go take a driver's safety class. As far as I can tell the people (has to have been a committee) that say what this class must have are insane. I will be taking the class online, so it boils down to two key factors. The first is FCAT level read a passage and multiple answer questions, stupid, but understandable. The second is what really gets me, you have to spend X time working on each section, for example I will get through a section in about 5 minutes, then I have to sit there with the browser window open for another 30+ minutes so that I have time 'in' class.

In other news, Dad got Malaria, he's better now. He skipped taking his anti-malarials when he went to Haiti and then got to spend 3 days in the hospital starting 2 June

The new boss gets open heart surgery next week, wish him well.

Papa's got a brand new bag

2006-05-04T22:21:47Z

Well, three new bags. He needed to get one to replace the duffel he gave away after his last trip to Haiti, the second one was because he liked the gym bag style for his carry-on bag and I do not know why he got the third. He is on the road to Miami today and should be in Haiti tomorrow afternoon.

On another note, I got a brand-new job.

Booyah!

The book is missing

2006-03-25T02:48:44Z

I can not find my copy of Touched by the Gods by Lawrence Watt-Evans, it's driving my nuts. I really need more bookself space.

So the first four people I called to see if anyone wanted to go see "Inside Man" had a really good reason to not go or did not pick up, so I gave up and watched the highlights from "Wasabi" on DVD. The rest of tonight is going towards playing with the new server, perhaps I will get something useful done with Postfix.

People are Everywhere

2003-12-31T19:56:49Z

Today was quite odd. I saw three people I have not seen for years. It is not that often that I see such people. I saw a guy I spent years of afternoons with (he had far more Transformers than I), a fellow band member from GHS and a professor from the Physics Department. I can't remember single name, that so sad, but it was nice to see them.

On the other hand I am feeling mopey. I think I picked up a sore throat at TGI Friday's last night (I am going to blame it on them at least) and work was painful today. Trying to think why having problems breathing is not something I recommend.

On the whole Christmas was blast. I had a lot of fun with the family. Cribbage with Mary, LotR:RotK with the lot, a trip to Panama City to see the paternal extended family and lots of general socializing. I also got some nice loot. Mom got me a nice abstract stone sculpture, Mary gave me a hand painted pocket-junk tray and my cousin Sarah sent me a B&N gift card with which I bought a book on Knots.

Defecation

2003-07-11T02:13:16Z

For various reasons one of the main words on my mind has been Defecation. Just say it. Its got a nice ring to it. It would make a great chant (Just imagine a few thousand people marching in D.C. chanting "Def-e-ca-tion"; I don't know what it would be about but the possibilities are wild.) On a side note the word stool originally was similar to throne but was, over time, pushed down past chair (after we picked that up from French) and then was dropped down with toilet and got mixed up with feces; fascinating, isn't it?

So anyway, a few weeks ago I was discussing LJ with Jarrod and then my LJ subscription expired so my mind was on kind of in the mood to go back and start doing the LJ thing. During similar quiet points when I was in the 'library' without a book and therefore with time for random thoughts it came to me that defecation is a really good thing. First a nice solid BM just makes me feel better, I'm lighter, there's a bounce in my step and the body is working A-OK. After mulling over the topic for some time (e.i. on the loo without any reading material) if came to me that the whole tail end of the digestive system is amazing; I ate all that stuff (most of it anyway, a few fluids were added), my body does not want it, but it has a convenient way to package, store, and remove it as need, spiff. Also it's one of those marvels of sequential coordination with dozens of muscles working together to see all the gunk goes the right direction in a timely manner without hurting anything.

At this time I have started singing and rhyming the word. I am starting to feel a little odd about my current fixation and this entry it flush it out of my system (an enema if you will).

Odd link for the moment: Many medical authorities consider this a dangerous procedure.

In other news, I'm doing OK, Spycraft looks like a great version of the D20 system, the logo on Christopher Buckley's Little Green Men is neat, I like the trend of stamping something on front cover of hardback books, a GRU dump truck dropped a pile of dirt in the middle of University Avenue today and Cafe at Books (Inc. that is) makes a damn fine quiche.

The end of the world as I need it

2002-12-12T20:00:12Z

ARGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHGHGHGHGHGHGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

I feel that the is something really @$##$^%#%&#$%^#% wrong with the world. More that 99% of it is my fault but there is still something really #$^#$&% wrong. I really feel the need to hit something.

I should find out about a a firing range, or build something explosive. I don't know.

Thump!

2002-08-31T01:33:30Z

Ouch. Thud, ugh. . .

#@%*#$%()#$%^(&#$)&@#)&%@$)&^@()$&#*(%@#(%&#$

Someone is an evil sub-monkey

2002-06-15T03:51:34Z

Oh, and I am really peeved that the wonderful people at Cox felt the need on Thursday to physically disconnect my cable (read high speed internet connection). When asked they admitted "Well, yes it was our fault you should not have been disconnected, we can just squeeze you in on Saturday and get it turned back on then". Do they have any idea how painful it is to move back to V.90 after using a cable modem for few months.

My neck hurts

2002-06-15T03:35:13Z

& my head. The left side of my head is stuffed up and the muscle on the rear left side of my neck is stressed. I am in pain and I do not like it. I have been walking the thin line between fainting and puking since midday Wednesday. Then I took Thursday off as I was feeling worse. Friday I got my paycheck (good) and then I get a letter from my boss saying it is bad that I am using my leave almost as fast as I get it and that it would be worse for the office if I had a major medical problem and had to take leave without pay as opposed to sick leave; how is it worse for the office if I am not going to be there anyway and you don't have to pay me!?!?!?!??!? So now I have a 'bad' letter in my 'folder', Arrrrrgh!!!

High points for the last three days:
Wed. A Really cool three ball run on the pool table before I felt too ill to play anymore. (OK, ok it was only two but the third was going to be really cool).
Thu. Playing Gipf (http://www.gipf.com/ check it out, I still need Tamsk) with romicookieRomi</lj>.
Fri. Getting a whole, unopened, box of Jolly Rancher Chews (12 13oz. bags woot, woot; only a month out of date) free from UF book stores. Sure they have been giving out bags free to anyone for over a month, but this was a whole box. ;]

In the interest of keeping the people that I talk to often from strangling me I have made a conscious decision to move some of my peeves from my general blabber to my LJ.
DC Rant #1: Running lights.
I hope that everyone here knows that running lights have no legal purpose in the world (or at least in my view of the laws in FL/USA). There is no time when turning on your running lights and not your head lights is a good idea. If it is dark enough that you need to have your dash lights on (& ∴ your running lights) you need to turn on your head lights for anyone else to see your vehicle in the wash of other vehicles with lights on. Turn on your HEAD LIGHTS morons!!!!!!

The above rant is most probably not directed at anyone reading this LJ, so do not take it personally.

Everybody hope for me, I have an application out for a new job.

Except for the hail

2002-05-31T21:17:49Z

Have you played in the rain lately? You should. I had a blast for a few minutes wandering in the rain. It is so spiffy that this nice cool liquid just falls from the sky, everything just feels more alive and I feel more human (able to live in this thing we call 'the weather' in Florida). Today at work was OK, I got to play with libwin32 in Perl to play with the registry to the end purpose of lying to Novell Application Launcher, great fun.

P.S. When it starts to hail step out of the rain until it stops, Ouch!

Vroom. Vroom

2002-05-31T03:25:03Z

Aha, the sounds of a happy car. It all works, the AC vents, the cruise controls and the fluid is no longer vaporising in a nasty plume of steam out of the hood. Life is good and the car works. Now I just need the speedometer to work and all would be hunky dory.

The Weasel has arrived

2002-05-30T21:53:03Z

So my car is still in Waldo, the vacuum pump has gone bad and is spraying power steering fluid all over. This problem has killed the cruise control and AC vent controls as well as creating a need for vast quantities of power steering fluid. Overall the day has gone well and my only worry is finishing my Mage character before game tomorrow lest Dove be irked.

Fun LJ trick on the day:

Public Services Announcement: Slab: Jus' Say

'AarrghaarrghpleeassennononoUGH'.